A dream for the 'forgotten' place in Greater Manchester where you can't get a train into town
‘Neglected, overlooked and under-resourced'. That’s how one Heywood businessman described the town earlier this year after a rock bottom turnout at the local elections.
Rochdale to Heywood Tram Train - £50m+ Heywood has no train service to Manchester, and its railway station, rather than offering commuter services, is part of the heritage East Lancashire Railway attraction. “We are doing it in partnership with ELR to ensure heritage services can still run. ELR have been supportive so far,” he adds.
“Few places don’t have a train station,” he says, pointing out Heywood’s current Achilles’ heel. “With the Quality Bus Transit and tram-train pathfinder, that connectivity will be laid on and that shouldn’t be underestimated.” A new seating area in the ‘Morrison’s Gap’ is also planned as part of the improvements. While the one way system will remain, pavements would be widened where possible and lay-bys put in for buses, loading and pick-up/drop off.
But, perhaps more importantly, it is also expected to remove thousands of HGVs from Heywood town centre every year. "If you go and stand in the town centre now you won’t see all the HGVs - there’s already an impact and that’s before the GPS systems have got used to it,” adds Coun Blundell. Funding of £700,000 has already been secured from Arts Council England, but Levelling Up monies would significantly boost those plans and enable further improvements to the surrounding area. The cash would also be used to deliver improvements to Peine Square, providing opportunities for outdoor arts and performance space for the Civic Centre.
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